The Lifeboat
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Charlotte Rogan uses a deceptively simply narrative of shipwreck and survival to explore our all-too-human capacity for self-deception (J M Coetzee )
The Lifeboat traps the reader in a story that is exciting at the literal level and brutally moving at the existential: I read it in one go (Emma Donoghue, Author Of Room )
The Lifeboat is a richly rewarding novel, psychologically acute and morally complex. It can and should be read on many levels, but it is first and foremost a harrowing tale of survival. And what an irresistible tale it is: terrifying, intense, and, like the ocean in which the shipwrecked characters are cast adrift, profound (Valerie Martin, Winner Of The Orange Prize For Property )
What a splendid book. It rivets the reader's attention, and at the same time it seethes with layered ambiguity. It's beautifully controlled and totally believable (Hilary Mantel, Man Booker Prize Winner Of Wolf Hall )
Characters that haunt the imagination for days . . . All kinds of social and moral questions are raised. This fabulous first novel is almost unbearably exciting - you'll gulp it down in a single sitting (Kate Saunders The Times )
Extraordinary . . . Gripping narrative . . . A magnificently layered book with echoes of Joseph Conrad, Lord of the Flies and the Ancient Mariner . . . It is that rare thing - a book that is as compelling as it is profound (Daisy Goodwin Sunday Times )
The Lifeboat traps the reader in a story that is exciting at the literal level and brutally moving at the existential: I read it in one go (Emma Donoghue, Author Of Room )
The Lifeboat is a richly rewarding novel, psychologically acute and morally complex. It can and should be read on many levels, but it is first and foremost a harrowing tale of survival. And what an irresistible tale it is: terrifying, intense, and, like the ocean in which the shipwrecked characters are cast adrift, profound (Valerie Martin, Winner Of The Orange Prize For Property )
What a splendid book. It rivets the reader's attention, and at the same time it seethes with layered ambiguity. It's beautifully controlled and totally believable (Hilary Mantel, Man Booker Prize Winner Of Wolf Hall )
Characters that haunt the imagination for days . . . All kinds of social and moral questions are raised. This fabulous first novel is almost unbearably exciting - you'll gulp it down in a single sitting (Kate Saunders The Times )
Extraordinary . . . Gripping narrative . . . A magnificently layered book with echoes of Joseph Conrad, Lord of the Flies and the Ancient Mariner . . . It is that rare thing - a book that is as compelling as it is profound (Daisy Goodwin Sunday Times )
Book Description
The Lifeboat is a daring and adventurous novel set just before the First World War. It begins in a courtroom, where an enigmatic young woman named Grace Winter is on trial; in flashback, we learn why . . .
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
38 of 41 people found the following review helpful
Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase
Two years after the loss of Titanic, and just after the outbreak of WWI, the ocean liner Empress Alexandra sinks. There is an explosion and a fire on board, leading to panic and the launching of just over half the available lifeboats. Grace Winter, newly married to Henry, is placed by her husband aboard Lifeboat 14, one of the last to get away safely. At first, it seems as though their only problem is to get the lifeboat as far away from the ship as possible. However, having escaped the initial danger, those on board - thirty nine in all, including thirty one women and one child - have to face the harsh reality that the rescue they are awaiting may not be coming.
When we meet Grace, a most resourceful and realistic heroine, she is in prison on trial for her life. Her lawyers suggest she try to recreate the events of those twenty one days after the ship went down, and her diary is what we read, as the story of what happened and why she is on trial unfolds. This is an excellent, atmospheric and well written novel, which draws you in and refuses to let you stop reading. Grace tells her story simply and well, feeling no doubt in her actions, although we readers are often unsure she should be so certain of her belief. In fact, Grace's status seems as unreliable and shifting as the sea the boat floats precariously on.
As Grace narrates her story, she says, "the bare bones of our natures were showing," and it is hard to disagree with her. Yet, it is also impossible to judge how people could, or would, react in such a desperate situation. Certainly, the situation in the Lifeboat leads to those on board exhibiting the best and worst that humanity has to offer - from disagreements, discord and jealousy to self sacrifice. If this novel does not win awards, I will be stunned. This is an excellent book and would be ideal for a reading group looking for an intelligent and thought provoking novel to discuss.
When we meet Grace, a most resourceful and realistic heroine, she is in prison on trial for her life. Her lawyers suggest she try to recreate the events of those twenty one days after the ship went down, and her diary is what we read, as the story of what happened and why she is on trial unfolds. This is an excellent, atmospheric and well written novel, which draws you in and refuses to let you stop reading. Grace tells her story simply and well, feeling no doubt in her actions, although we readers are often unsure she should be so certain of her belief. In fact, Grace's status seems as unreliable and shifting as the sea the boat floats precariously on.
As Grace narrates her story, she says, "the bare bones of our natures were showing," and it is hard to disagree with her. Yet, it is also impossible to judge how people could, or would, react in such a desperate situation. Certainly, the situation in the Lifeboat leads to those on board exhibiting the best and worst that humanity has to offer - from disagreements, discord and jealousy to self sacrifice. If this novel does not win awards, I will be stunned. This is an excellent book and would be ideal for a reading group looking for an intelligent and thought provoking novel to discuss.
19 of 22 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
As we approach the centenary of the tragedy of the Titanic's sinking, there is something rather pertinent and moving about Charlotte Rogan's The Lifeboat - a novel which presents the story of a group of mostly women and some men who are shipwrecked in a small vessel in 1914 and are adrift. Despite the prayers of a clergyman on board, it is clear that this lifeboat sails out of sight of God. In particular, the novel focuses on the young Grace Winter who, married just ten weeks before the telling of the novel takes place, has been a widow for six. As the novel begins, Grace and her fellow survivors Mrs Grant and Hannah are on trial for their lives, accused of a murder.
The story is told to us here by Grace herself and she is no ordinary witness. She is also a major contributing factor to the success of The Lifeboat as a novel and as a mystery. Grace may be our eyes for the events in the lifeboat but she is also a woman with a vehement desire to survive and while we empathise and feel for her as she recounts those long days lost and barely alive in the boat, we're fully aware that Grace may be off the boat but her life is still in danger. Her words are intended to save it.
The narrative moves between the days and nights on the lifeboat, events before the disaster that led to it and the aftermath of their rescue. We hear about Grace's marriage to the wealthy young heir Henry, her deliverance to the lifeboat even though it was full, her devotion for Mr Hardie, the crewman on board the lifeboat who takes charge of their survival, the women who mourn their lost husbands and children and cling on to sanity while sipping saltwater and chewing dried seagull flesh. Then there are the outnumbered men.
There are several reasons to savour The Lifeboat, not least the voice of Grace. Our ambivalence towards her is tempered by our sympathy for her extraordinary and desperate circumstances. Through her we experience other strong survivors, especially Mrs Grant and Hannah, as well as the suffering of some of the weaker individuals in the lifeboat, not all of whom survive. Then there is the sea itself. Matched by a stunning cover, The Lifeboat gives us the sea as a character in itself, populated by scarce fish and seabirds plus its ill, damaged and increasingly insane human victims.
Despite the confines of the boat, The Lifeboat is never dull and despite its tragic subject, it is not without humour. The suffering is accompanied by multiplying Chinese whispers about thefts onboard the liner, rumours about what survivors may be concealing, the reason for Grace's appearance on the overfull boat and the terrible sight of the abandoned, drowning men and women in the cold seas. Grace is indeed a born survivor and listening to her tell her story, you hang on to every word. It is at times a harrowing tale indeed.
The Lifeboat is Charlotte Rogan's debut novel. It is also one of Waterstones 11 along with the superb The Snow Child. It is most certainly worth your attention. I'm going to remember it for quite a while. This review is from a review copy.
The story is told to us here by Grace herself and she is no ordinary witness. She is also a major contributing factor to the success of The Lifeboat as a novel and as a mystery. Grace may be our eyes for the events in the lifeboat but she is also a woman with a vehement desire to survive and while we empathise and feel for her as she recounts those long days lost and barely alive in the boat, we're fully aware that Grace may be off the boat but her life is still in danger. Her words are intended to save it.
The narrative moves between the days and nights on the lifeboat, events before the disaster that led to it and the aftermath of their rescue. We hear about Grace's marriage to the wealthy young heir Henry, her deliverance to the lifeboat even though it was full, her devotion for Mr Hardie, the crewman on board the lifeboat who takes charge of their survival, the women who mourn their lost husbands and children and cling on to sanity while sipping saltwater and chewing dried seagull flesh. Then there are the outnumbered men.
There are several reasons to savour The Lifeboat, not least the voice of Grace. Our ambivalence towards her is tempered by our sympathy for her extraordinary and desperate circumstances. Through her we experience other strong survivors, especially Mrs Grant and Hannah, as well as the suffering of some of the weaker individuals in the lifeboat, not all of whom survive. Then there is the sea itself. Matched by a stunning cover, The Lifeboat gives us the sea as a character in itself, populated by scarce fish and seabirds plus its ill, damaged and increasingly insane human victims.
Despite the confines of the boat, The Lifeboat is never dull and despite its tragic subject, it is not without humour. The suffering is accompanied by multiplying Chinese whispers about thefts onboard the liner, rumours about what survivors may be concealing, the reason for Grace's appearance on the overfull boat and the terrible sight of the abandoned, drowning men and women in the cold seas. Grace is indeed a born survivor and listening to her tell her story, you hang on to every word. It is at times a harrowing tale indeed.
The Lifeboat is Charlotte Rogan's debut novel. It is also one of Waterstones 11 along with the superb The Snow Child. It is most certainly worth your attention. I'm going to remember it for quite a while. This review is from a review copy.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Vine™ Review
(What's this?)
Due to a small family emergency, it's been over a week since I finished 'The Lifeboat'. It speaks volumes that as I try to write my review, I'm struggling to remember much about it. The premise is simple; this is a survivor's tale. A survivor of a transatlantic shipping accident. Grace escaped in an overcrowded lifeboat. From the outset, we know her husband is dead and that she is on trial for murder. The novel opens with her presenting the account she wrote for the lawyers defending her case.
'The Lifeboat' starts promisingly enough. Grace details her fellow evacuees, and the terror of being adrift in the ocean. There are hard decisions to be made about who can be let in to the boat. It's already overcrowded, there is no room for any extras, even a stranded child. The narrative quickly centres around 'Hardie', an employee of the shipping company, and the only person with any real sailing experience. He organises the survivors and works out bailing rotas and the rationing of supplies. He is rough and taciturn, with no time for the foolishness he perceives in others. He is their saviour, but many of the boats occupants do not like him.
So, the scene is set. Tempers will fray, someone (maybe more) will die, Grace will survive, but what will happen in the meantime? At first I found Rogan's story convincing. She assembles a varied and interesting group of characters. Grace is a spoiled rich girl fallen on hard times, who thanks to her determination has married a rich man. A man she left on a sinking ship. She loved him, yes, but also she wonders, what will happen to his money? As food and drinking water become scarce, motives and intentions are picked over, and weaknesses exploited. Alliances are made and broken. The other passengers wonder how Grace ended up on the ship, did her husband buy her passage? Was it at the expense of other passengers? Why does Hardie want to avoid the other lifeboats they see floating on the waves? Is doing so their best chance of survival or does he have more sinister motives?
As the sea becomes rougher, and the boat starts to take in water, there are many reasons why any number of the survivors should not make the cut. How will it be resolved? The opening half of this novel is taut and exciting, before reaching a crescendo, but then for me it all goes wrong. The narrative switches from being Grace's account of the voyage, to her time in court, and with her psychiatrist. Who survived from the boat and who didn't is laid out plainly, and the survivor politics forgotten. Instead the novel becomes about the treatment of women in Edwardian society. The shift is a peculiar one. Although gender was definitely an issue in the lifeboat, the narrative was driven by human interaction. Once Grace is in the legal system, the novel's humanity ebbs, and the suspense drains away.
Outside of their predicament Rogan's characters suddenly feel two-dimensional; copied and pasted from Period Fiction 101. The emotional power of the book leaches out, and it limps along to a reasonable but unremarkable conclusion. The power to be found in 'The Lifeboat' was derived from the claustrophobia of the boat and without it, there is little tension. I am struggling to remember what happened at the end of the novel, or why I might have cared. 'The Lifeboat' is never a bad book, but it fails to live up to its promise. For me, the switch from survivor crisis to courtroom drama didn't work. This is Rogan's first novel and she is writer with some great novels ahead of her. Sadly this isn't one of them.
'The Lifeboat' starts promisingly enough. Grace details her fellow evacuees, and the terror of being adrift in the ocean. There are hard decisions to be made about who can be let in to the boat. It's already overcrowded, there is no room for any extras, even a stranded child. The narrative quickly centres around 'Hardie', an employee of the shipping company, and the only person with any real sailing experience. He organises the survivors and works out bailing rotas and the rationing of supplies. He is rough and taciturn, with no time for the foolishness he perceives in others. He is their saviour, but many of the boats occupants do not like him.
So, the scene is set. Tempers will fray, someone (maybe more) will die, Grace will survive, but what will happen in the meantime? At first I found Rogan's story convincing. She assembles a varied and interesting group of characters. Grace is a spoiled rich girl fallen on hard times, who thanks to her determination has married a rich man. A man she left on a sinking ship. She loved him, yes, but also she wonders, what will happen to his money? As food and drinking water become scarce, motives and intentions are picked over, and weaknesses exploited. Alliances are made and broken. The other passengers wonder how Grace ended up on the ship, did her husband buy her passage? Was it at the expense of other passengers? Why does Hardie want to avoid the other lifeboats they see floating on the waves? Is doing so their best chance of survival or does he have more sinister motives?
As the sea becomes rougher, and the boat starts to take in water, there are many reasons why any number of the survivors should not make the cut. How will it be resolved? The opening half of this novel is taut and exciting, before reaching a crescendo, but then for me it all goes wrong. The narrative switches from being Grace's account of the voyage, to her time in court, and with her psychiatrist. Who survived from the boat and who didn't is laid out plainly, and the survivor politics forgotten. Instead the novel becomes about the treatment of women in Edwardian society. The shift is a peculiar one. Although gender was definitely an issue in the lifeboat, the narrative was driven by human interaction. Once Grace is in the legal system, the novel's humanity ebbs, and the suspense drains away.
Outside of their predicament Rogan's characters suddenly feel two-dimensional; copied and pasted from Period Fiction 101. The emotional power of the book leaches out, and it limps along to a reasonable but unremarkable conclusion. The power to be found in 'The Lifeboat' was derived from the claustrophobia of the boat and without it, there is little tension. I am struggling to remember what happened at the end of the novel, or why I might have cared. 'The Lifeboat' is never a bad book, but it fails to live up to its promise. For me, the switch from survivor crisis to courtroom drama didn't work. This is Rogan's first novel and she is writer with some great novels ahead of her. Sadly this isn't one of them.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
so far so good
I have only just started to read this book but so far so good, I'm looking forward to the rest.
Published 2 days ago by Matt
Fantastic- Stunning debut
It's 1914 and the Empress Alexandra has sank. Few lifeboats managed to launch including one that newly married Grace Winter managed to get a place in. Read more
Published 4 days ago by JennyD
The Lifeboat - needing rescuing!
The start of the book looked very promising. I was however very disappointed - a poor read. If I had got the book out of the Library would have taken it back without finishing... Read more
Published 5 days ago by sally
Fascinating premise, but poor characterisation makes for a...
I love books about moral dilemmas, and the blurb about The Lifeboat seemed full of them - and so I read it with a lot of anticipation. Read more
Published 8 days ago by Max
What would you do?
The blurb on the back of the book gives a taste of what it is about - "I was to stand trial for my life. I was twenty-two years old. Read more
Published 8 days ago by Debs
Tedious, with poor characterisation
Quite simply, I was really excited by this book at the start - after all it has rather a unique opening in that you know the basic outcome of the story near the start. Read more
Published 9 days ago by Ali
Don't expect a tidy ending!
I found The Lifeboat hard to capture my imagination at first, but persevered nonetheless and started to get interested in the story about half-way through. Read more
Published 9 days ago by A Glasgow Girl
The Lifeboat
Very topical as its the centenary of Titanic.
A gripping read, you really wanted to know how
things turned out, although of course you knew
some survived or they... Read more
A gripping read, you really wanted to know how
things turned out, although of course you knew
some survived or they... Read more
Published 11 days ago by Mrs. H. N. Robinson
Dissapointing!!
I was looking forward to this novel as had listened to all the hype and like many others listened to the authors interview on the radio. Read more
Published 12 days ago by tyrerl
I Will Survive
1914: After 3 weeks in an overcrowded lifeboat, Grace Winter is facing trial for murder, with the death sentence as a possible penalty. Read more
Published 14 days ago by elkiedee
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